Report Paul Murphy
The transportation department of Meath County Council has spent the last five years building up a pipeline of cycling and walking projects but the council is still waiting for the funding of the projects to come forward, a meeting of the council has been told. Director of Services Martin Murray gave an outline of the difficulties surrounding funding when he addressed councillors at the March meeting. He said that when the council was asked to look for Pathfinder schemes in the county it was requested to give a clear indication of “stand alone” projects. It was given funding for the Navan Bus to School Scheme and it was a “stand alone” project which did not require National Transport Authority funding. The funding was €5.2m and that had materialised.
In one year the council had received €17.9m in Nta funding having received an allocation formally of €13.5m. “The reality of what we are dealing now in Transportation is a €12m allocation. We spent the last five years almost of building up a pipeline of projects, some of them mentioned by Cllrs Murphy and Meyer”. The South of Ashbourne scheme was ready to go and sitting there with tender documents waiting for the button to be pressed but the council did not have the funding, he said.There was also a scheme to upgrade Castle Street in Ashbourne and there was also a scheme for Dunboyne. “Right throughout the county we’re not stopping, we’re keeping going in respect of getting permission for these schemes, for funding for preliminary designs. We’re getting the projects shelf ready or shovel ready but the reality is that we have got €12m funding. We had €24.5m schemes ready to go last year – that’s nearly €30m this year. That sums up where we are in terms of
active travel and mobility schemes”.
Housing information on way
Director of Services for Housing Fiona Fallon said that new systems of giving more information to housing applicants is being investigated in the council. One key issue centred on the criteria for income and the council is looking at the possibility of putting a calculator online so that people could enter their income and see straight away whether or not they qualified for social housing. In some cases it would save time on applications that were never going to be approved because they did not meet the criteria. The target for retrofitting properties this year was 48 properties. The council had met its target on this aspect last year and expected to meet it again this year. A stock condition programme is underway and when the feedback from that is available the council will formulate a maintenance programme of social housing, the official said.
Replying to a query from Sinn Fein Cllr Fionnan Blake, Ms Fallon said that with regard to tenant-in-situ situations the council made application to the Department for approval to purchase the property. The council would only proceed to purchase a property that it had received approval for, she said. The controversial Aylesbury scheme should be concluded by the end of March.
Council questions
The following questions were asked by councillors. Cllr Francis Deane – “What is the proposed timeframe for resurfacing the R153 (Duleek to Navan) following the recent water mains pipe installation?”.
Cllr Maria White – “What are the plans for the parklets which were installed outside public houses and restaurants etc during Covid-19?”.
Cllr Yvonne Everard – “Can the chief executive clarify how many Section 183s had taken place in the year 2025?”
Storm and trees
Damage done by falling trees during the recent storm came up for discussion. Independent Cllr Francis Deane called on the council to engage with local farming organisations such as the Ifa and the ICSFA to implement a scheme similar to those established by other local authorities to address the concerns related to falling and diseased trees in proximity to overhead power lines. He said the issue had been raised during a conversation he had had with the Ifa President before the storm had hit. It was an issue that needed to be addressed but it would require funding to be available, he said.
Social Democrat Cllr Ronan Moore raised a similar issue regarding the recent storm. He praised the council staff for the work they had done in dealing with the aftereffects on the storm but he asked the council to invite public submissions, by way of an online portal, so as to understand Meath residents’ experiences of Storm Eowyn and in doing so help the county learn lessons and prepare for future weather events.
Sinn Fein Cllr Helen Meyer called on the council to engage with landowners, local groups and organisations on the planting and management of trees throughout the county.
Independent Cllr Brian Fitzgerald asked the council to write to ESB Networks asking it to carry out a risk assessment of their overhead distribution network to minimise the more frequent occurrence of overhead wires falling due to falling trees and in the process disturbing the transmission network for prolonged periods.
